Hazard was sent off in the team's Capital One Cup semi-final second-leg exit at the Liberty Stadium on 23 January following his ill-judged attempt to kick the ball from beneath the apparently time-wasting ballboy.

The FA had earlier suggested that his three-game ban for violent conduct was "clearly insufficient", but an independent commission decided against adding to it after reviewing the evidence.

An FA statement said: "Following a hearing earlier today an independent regulatory commission was of the opinion the existing three-match sanction for this offence was sufficient.

"The FA will be reminding all clubs of their responsibilities in ensuring ballboys and other personnel around the pitch act in an appropriate manner at all times and The FA will be liaising with competitions accordingly."

Chelsea said in response: "Despite our disappointment that the FA felt it necessary to take it as far as today's hearing, Chelsea are satisfied that good sense finally prevailed and no extra games were added."

Hazard missed Chelsea's draws against Brentford and Reading so will therefore be available for the club's home game against Wigan Athletic a week after the trip to Newcastle United this weekend.

Chelsea wrote to the FA on Wednesday arguing that Hazard did not merit a longer punishment than usual for violent conduct.

The basis of their argument was that Hazard moved quickly to apologise for the incident. The club are also thought to have pointed out that Swindon's Matt Ritchie was only booked for grappling with the Oxford United ballboy Aidan Hawtin in a similar incident last year.

About this article

This article was published on
the Guardian website
at 11.58 EST on Thursday 31 January 2013.
It was last modified at 10.31 EDT on Wednesday 21 May 2014.
It was first published at 11.48 EST on Thursday 31 January 2013.